Help me pick a projectile for the .308

Berger 175gr OTM.

Sierra 175MK's are what I use most. I have had excellent accuracy with Lapua and Berger 155's.

I have been messing with the 178 grain eldx having pretty good results. I have them shooting 2550 fps out of my 20" barrel , and after testing at different ranges up to 700 yds I use a .550 bc on my dope card. I don't see anything much better than that. Also, I can use it to hunt with.

I've been getting very good accuracy with the Hornady 178 gr ELD-X bullet. That is a hunting bullet, the ELD-M is a little less expensive and is a match bullet. It should be at least as good although on paper the BC is slightly less. The Berger 175 would likely be as good, but I haven't tried them.

The ELD-X has a BC considerably better than the Berger 155 and a bit better than the Lapua 155. I think the 155's might be good enough out to 500 ish although I've not looked at how the wind effects them. I am getting 2880 fps with Berger 155's, 2650 fps with the Hornady 178's. At 500 yards the 155's are only about 50 fps faster. I haven't run the numbers beyond 500, but at some point past 500 the 178's will be faster.

Overall I think the better BC's of the heavier bullets outweigh the speed of lighter bullets beyond 500 yards. I know some guys that are using 200-215 gr bullets in 308 and shooting them at seriously long range. Approaching a mile. But to get enough speed they are really pushing the envelope on hand loads where I won't go.

In the military we used the M118 LR, which is a 175 grain OTM (SMK?). At the longer distances, we had better results with it than the older M118 special ball (173 grain) and the M882 Match (168 grain) which performs similar to the Federal 168 grain GMM. Unfortunately, as I am not a reloader, I don't have the data for the M118 LR. The M118 LR had a lower max ord, and was better in wind.

Peakbagger46 said:

I have been shooting Sierra 168g Matchkings in my 24” 5R Remington 700. Accuracy at 100 yards has been under 1/2MOA with three shot groups (I know, 3 shot groups don’t count...) using Reloader 15, and I’m pushing them at 2,764fps.

Lately I’ve been shooting at 500 yards and doing decently. I want to push further out, to at least 600 to 800. My “local range” is BLM land about 15 miles from the house. Elevation is around 5,000’.

I’m looking for a bullet with a higher bc that would be a little more wind tolerant. What has worked for you guys? What are the competition shooters using these days? I’m looking at heavier MatchKings, but tipped MatchKings and ELDX bullets have an even higher advertised bc. The Lapua 155g match bullets also looks interesting with a bc of over .5.

I know the .308 is no Creedmoor or .260, just having a lot of fun with this rifle and looking to stretch it out some.

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Get @natureboy to weigh in here.

Here’s my recent thread on mid/long range load development for my .308

I’ve settled in on the 180g SMK

https://www.thehighroad.org/index.php?threads/308-long-range-load-development-results.822638/

I like the 178 ELD-X so far, I worked this load up in one range trip. I've yet to stretch it out but it looks promising. Groups are 215 and 320 yards.



I had issues getting the 175 Sierras to shoot better than 1.25" at 100 yards in my factory 700. I had to seat them to .025" jump for a coal of 2.985" but after that groups shrank and powder charges seemed irrelevant to accuracy. 200 yard load dev

Hunting.

"...to at least 600 to 800..." Work up a load using as 175/178 grain match bullet. Sierra makes a 180 grain Matchking that'd do as well. The 178 is a Hornady A-Max or ELD Match. Uses 175 or 180 grain data. Don't think it makes much difference which. You may want to change powders too.
155 grain match bullets are Palma bullets. Used in 14 or 15 pound single shot Palma rifles where 800 yards is short range.
"...a higher bc..." The Ballistic Coefficient is a measure of a bullet's ability to overcome air resistance in flight. Isn't about wind resistance.
"...3 shot groups don’t count..." It's the 100 yards that doesn't count. The black on 600 plus yard NRA targets is 24" diameter. Best thing for you to do is go shoot some NRA High Power matches. Don't worry about placing. Match shooting opens doors and it's fun.

Good shooting Orcon. Lots of very knowledgeable people posts on the THR. If a person can't learn something new on THR every day, they don't care to learn anything. Lots of good info in this thread as well as Nature Boy's 308 thread.

Stevenvalleyky said:

Good shooting Orcon.

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Don't congratulate me too much, I managed to take that 175 SMK load and use it to shoot a 535. Finding a load that shoots well is pretty easy, trying to make wind calls when all six range flags are pointing in different directions is not so easy.

Peak, I don't want to start a heated exchange here but, while lots of people are giving you lots of information some of which is really good, why not go to the source. Most bullet manufacturers will provide the information you are seeking. Like this. http://www.bergerbullets.com/twist-rate-calculator/

Hope this works for you, good luck.

I think with a 24" barrel, going to lighter bullets, such as the 155's, will not produce the consistency you want at distance. Those 155's were developed for Palma rifles which have 30 inch, sometimes longer tubes!. The shooters are pushing those at 3000 to 3050 fps, which is smoking hot.

I did shoot some 155's at CMP Talladega out out of a 26" tube, while they shot well at 600 yards (prone with Sling), I can't push them fast enough for them to be competitive.

I think the hornady 178 amax or the ELD equivalent will do the trick for you. 175 SMK gets the job done too. The berger hybrid style bullets are awesome if you don't mind the price tag.

I like the hornady bullets as they do well on deer sized game too... so no need to switch loads if you hunt meat vs paper.

The farthest target that is easy to set up here is just over 600 yards. No complaints with any of those bullets at that distance. Wind is tough and swirly too as I shoot ever a big canyon/bowl here.

Peakbagger46 said:

Did you try any tipped bullets? Are any of your Fclass buddies using either tipped MatchKings or eldx bullets?

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I’ve only done 1 F Class match so far. At that particular match the guys that I saw shooting .308 were using the Berger 200 20x. Makes me want to get some and try them out.

I’ve tried to get the 178 ELDs to shoot in 2 of my .308 rifles with no success. Not sure why.

I just crossed that bridge with both projectiles and glass. I also picked the ELD-X to start with. They just showed up on the doorstep yesterday.

For glass I picked up my first FFP, a Sig Tango4 6-24x50. I'll post reviews of the results.

Nature Boy said:

I’ve only done 1 F Class match so far. At that particular match the guys that I saw shooting .308 were using the Berger 200 20x. Makes me want to get some and try them out.

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200+ grain projectiles take more than average reloading effort in .308, AND they really prefer longer barrels (30") and COAL well over SAAMI spec (with specially cut chambers) to get decent velocities. Then, they introduce issues of recoil management. I've shot a number of loads with them, and I'm not sure I'd recommend them except in the hands of dedicated F-Class shooters at 800-1200 yards.

Stretching the more common Rem 700s and such out is better suited for a variety of 175-180 grain projectiles. The 175 TMK and 178 ELD are my favorites. Find a combo your rifle likes and you're in business.